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No. 627,053. Patented June 13,1899. c. K. coLBY.

WATCH REGULATOR.

(Application med sept. e, 189s.)

(N o M o d el fafa.

WTNESSESI INVENTR @aww B/ E l ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

,CALEB K. COLBY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

WATCH-REG U LATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 627,053, dated June 13, 1899.

Application filed September 6, 1898. Serial No, 690,284. (No model.)

T0 @ZZ whom t met!) concern:

Be it known that I, OALEB K. OOLBY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vatch-Regulators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to regulating devices for watches, and particularly to that class of such regulators wherein means are provided for ascertaining in the regulation of the watch just how far and in what direction the regulator bar or arm was last moved.

In the manufacture of watch-movements one of the rst requirements is compactness in the direction of thinness, or, in other words,.

it is desirable to make the movement as thin as possible, and one of the features of m yinvention is a construction tending to reduce the thickness of the movement.

Another feature of the invention is a construction which obviates a difficulty inherent in this class of regulators-namely, the liability of disturbing one adjustment of the parts while effecting another, owing to the friction of one moving part on another.

In the drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a face view, on a somewhat exaggerated scale, of a part of a watch-movement and illustrating the regulating mechanism. Fig. 2 is a crosssection at line :t2 in Fig. 1, but on a larger scale. Fig. 3 shows the indicating-ring detached and on the same scale as Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows the invention as applied to a movement having a Swiss regulator. Fig. 5 shows a cut indicator-ring, and Fig. 6 shows this ring in section.

In Fig. 1 the numeral l represents the cock orbridge, 2 the balance-wheel, and 3 the regulator arm or bar, provided with a loop-like rack 4 in a well-known way. In this class of movements there is a circular recess in the bridge, and in this recess is set an operating device called a star wheel, rotatively mounted and carrying a pinion which engages the rack 4. On the bottom of this circular recess are marked usually a series of graduations to be traversed by a point on the star-wheel.

In carrying out my'invention in its application to this form of movement I substitute for the ordinary star-wheel a similar starwheel 5, but of a little less diameter than the ordinary one, said star-wheel carrying the ordinary pinion 6, and I fit into the circular recess in the bridge an indicator-ring 7, having on ita mark S. (Seen best in Fig. 3.) The outer periphery of this ring is made to fit snugly and frictionally in the circular recess, so that it can be moved concentrically about the star-wheel, but will remain where set. The rack 4 takes over this indicatorring 7 and keeps it down in place in the recess, and preferably the ring will be of substantially the same depth as the recess, as shown in Fig. 2. The ring 7 will be free from the star-wheel or out of contact therewith, and the graduations in the bottom of the recess will appear inside of the ring, as seen in Fig. l. A

The purpose of the present invention is to enable the person who may be adjusting or regulating the watch to set the .mark 8 on the ring 7 opposite to a point on the star-wheel 5 before he begins the adjustment, and he will then be able to know to just what extent and in what direction the star-wheel was moved at the last adjustment when he'comes toadjust again.

By means of the construction described the indicator-ring may be applied to watch-movements as now made at a very little cost, as it is only necessary to supply the ring and a new star-wheel of less diameter than the one in the movement, and these will-cost but a triile. Nothing is added to the thickness of the movement.

The ring 7 may be cut, as shown at 7a i Fig. 5, so as to be sprung into the circular recess in the plate of the movement, and this construction is preferred, as it provides friction at the periphery; but if the ring is made to fit snugly this cut is not absolutely necessary.

Where the movements are made with a view to receive the indicating-ring, the Wall of the recess may be slightly undercut and the cut ring be beveled at its outer periphery to t therein, as shown in the sectional view Fig. 6.

Fig. 4 shows the application of the indi- IOO eating-ring 7 to a watch-movement having regulator comprises a disk 9, rotating in a recess in the bridge or movementplate.' Fixed on the disk 9 is a volute cam 10, against which bears a laterally-projecting tip on the regulator-arm. A spring ll keeps the said arm pressed up into contact with the cam. The indicator-ring 7 occupies an annular recess around the disk 9, and the mark S thereon may be set to register With the tip of the cam l0 at starting the regulation of the Watch.

By the terms cock or bridge as herein used is meant any of the various forms of plates in watch-movements so designated in the art. These plates vary in shape according to the styles of movements produced by different makers, tWo of such styles being illustrated in Figs. l and 4l. It Will be obvious also that the operating plate, disk, or part herein called the star-wheel may be of any suitable form. The disk 9 in Fig. 4 corresponds to and is the equivalent of the triangular plate forming the star-Wheel 5 of Fig. l.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. In a regulator for a timepiece, the combination with the regulator-arm, the starwheel, rotatively mounted in a recess in a plate of the movement, and means wherebyl said star-wheel is connected operatively with the regulator arm, of the indicator ring mounted in said recess and surrounding said star-wheel, said r-ing having an exterior bearing on the Wall of said recess and being out of contact With the star-Wheel, substantially as set forth.

2. In a regulator for a timepiece, the combination With the star-Wheel mounted in a circular recess in a plate of the movement, the regulator-bar provided with a curved rack extending overl said starWheel, and the pinion carried by the star-Wheel and gearing With said rack, of an indicator-ring in said recess and surrounding said star-Wheel but out of contact therewith, said ring havingan exterior bearing on the Wall of the recess and said rack extending over said ring, substantially as set forth.

3. In a regulator for a timepiece, the combination with the regulator-arm', the starwheel mounted rotatively in a circular recess in a plate of the movement,and means Whereby said star-wheel is connected operatively with the regulator-arni, of the indicator-ring mounted in said recess and surrounding said star-wheel, said ring being cut and beveled exteriorly so that it may be sprung into an Aundercut in the Wall of said recess, substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 2d day ot' September, 1898, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

` CALEB K. COLBY. lVitnesses:

HENRY CoNNET'r,

PETER A. Ross. 

